Football Poets

129 years of buggerall

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 “129 Years of Buggerall”
By Paul Collins

¶ 2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 In 1875 we formed as Small Heath Alliance and thereafter it’s been 129 years of buggerall,
In the early days we played at Arthur St, Ladypool Rd and Muntz St, making St. Andrews home ground no. 4,
It was just a grassy piece of wasteland, on which many gypsies would stop to dwell,
until City made it their home in 1905, and kicked ’em off, on leaving, those gypsies cast a spell.

¶ 3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 “You’ll never win a thing,” they said, “and this spell will be cast in stone,
Or, until you give up St. Andrews and you give us back our home”,
We reached the cup final in ’31, only to have one goal disallowed, and then the Baggies knocked the winner in,
And 25 years later, in’56, an ex-prisoner of war broke his neck, and still played out of his skin.

¶ 4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 But on the ’56 cup run, Alex Gowan gave us the one thing that makes us feel so proud,
It was our ‘Keep right on’ anthem which brings out the goosebumps when us Bluenoses sing out loud,
Joe Bradford was our greatest ever goalscorer, a member of the ’31 Cup Final squad,
and we’ve had a few internationals in our time, T.F. was probably the most popular and most fans thought he was God.

¶ 5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Sadly, in the April of 1959, we lost Jeff Hall to Polio, he was only 22 years old,
We had a scoreboard in his memory and I believe when God created this man he threw away the mould,
We’ve had our trips to Europe, two Fairs Cup finals, although they were many years ago,
and always with the Battling Blues, when we’re up against the odds, we put on a right old show.

¶ 6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 In our darkest hour Ken Weldon arrived, a scrap metal merchant, a Midlander so to speak,
and then a Pakistani family from Manchester, bought it off him, until the BCCI bank went bust and things looked rather bleak,
So they sold us to the publishing magnate, to Dave Sullivan, who had the Gold’s right by his side,
Surely after all these years of mediocrity, we’d be in for a bump-free ride.

¶ 7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 So that’s the ‘inside story’, 6th place and a Cup Final appearance, is the best finish we’ve ever had,
and from 1972 I’ve loved and followed ’em, after I was taken to St. Andrews by me Dad,
Our fans are a different class, loyal, passionate, these boys and girls possess it all,
Following the Blues ain’t all about winning, after all we’ve never won buggerall.

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